35 replies to this topic

[Blink]

Purpose, on 30 July 2012 - 09:14 PM, said:

"your brain wants proof, not promises"

mindfulness meditation is great for learning to take your thoughts less seriously and become internally validated (core confidence) instead of looking externally for reasons to feel good (situational confidence).

see rsdnation.com

This is important. To see the thoughts for what they are - just thoughts. You are not a thought, and the person you think you are does not exist - it's just a concept made out of memories and fantasies.

I spent a lot of time and energy trying to improve and change myself. I wasn't really happy with with myself. However the biggest change occurred with the loss of everything I thought I was - ego death during a trip on ayahuasca.

I realized that the core of who I am can't be found in the personality or in the thoughts. I am not any of these temporary phenomena; I am actually the awareness of everything. Thoughts and emotions are just like passing clouds - I'm not a cloud but the changeless sky.

This realization brings peace to the mind. I don't have perfect confidence in my social skills or in my intellect, but I have absolute confidence in who I am.

[Brainfogged]

Psychopaths are known for their grandiosity and confidence. They have abnormal target areas in the brain. Their amygdala seems to target less reactions eg when someone is challenging them. They don´t seem to react except with cold calculated manipulation. Of course this can disarm anyone who has a consciousness. Another abnormality is that their corpus callossum is thinner and longer with more neural connections passing through their left and right brain, a reason for them being so verbally fluent. They also have 4 times more dopamine receptors in the brain. Could explain why they are so overfocused while not reacting to danger. The amygdala works along with the hippocampus to form new memories related to fight or flight. A dysfunction in their wiringsystem could possibly make them forget bad memories and also, while not being dragged down by selfdefeating thoughts! Another consequence is that it would make them prone to attack on a continuous basis to reach their goals while not be affected by defeat on a long term basis. The warriorgene (MAO) could also be a reason for their constant thrill- seeking.

Of course a criminal psychopath is a unsuccessful one and they are often incarcerated for pointless criminal acts! Acts one could only consider as childish or as an adult child would be doing because they don´t comprehend their own wrongdoings and at which cost it has on them. The aim would be to become a pro- social "psychopath" such as players, politicians, leaders and heavy organisers are.

Why I am mentioning all of this is because the key is the brain looking from a chemical/neurological viewpoint. One aim could be to try to find noots or drugs that affect these areas and stack them to test if they could possibly lead to an improved "sociability"!

[Brainfogged]

http://www.nature.co...ll/nn.2724.html

[Adaptogen]

Great thread, I wish there was more to read. Does anyone have any more tips/ideas on the issue?    I am a student to all of you

[nupi]

Jdtrain, on 31 July 2012 - 12:00 PM, said:

1) Confidence as a sense of high-social rank or dominance.  In primates, as in humans, dominance seems to be mediated by high levels of serotonin.  Take a high ranking chimpanzee, give him a serotonin depleting drink, and he'll be a low-ranking chimpanzee before you know it.

Shouldn't SSRIs make me confident in this case?

[vtrader]

In retrospect, a few things have changed for me since I last replied to this thread, one of them being that contant brain fog issue mentioned else where.
I still feel confidence is there in the background, but its less apprant due to more intense worries and constant self put downs. My sex drive is down a lot compared to several months ago. I've just been lacking any positive outcomes to fuel the initial confidence/esteem drive.
Without a steady strem of sensory fueled positive experiences confidence can degrade after time. You need to keep pushing yourself, but for me this brain fog and poor mental cognition abilities is messing me up.